Blog of the Day: The Good Business Sense of Early Education

Richard Snyder shares his opinion on the investment in high-quality early education in Patch's Local Voices.

Opinion: Maybe Pacino's Not Such a Bad Actor After All

The West Orange Classic Film Festival makes one movie fan question his opinion of America's loudest actor.

A couple months ago, I came to the conclusion that Al Pacino is the worst actor in the world while watching Heat. Back in February, I saw Dog Day Afternoon for the first time during the West Orange Classic Film Festival at the AMC Loews theater and I changed my mind. Heat is generally not brought up in a discussion of embarrassing later day Pacino performances. Usually the examples of his shouty showboating are the Devil’s Advocate or Scent of a Woman. He’s terrible in both of those movies, for sure, but he’s just as bad in Heat, a movie that curiously is considered to be very good (Richard Roeper once called it the best movie of all time in an interview with Howard Stern) even though it is surreally, comically bad, mostly thanks to Al …

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Legal Impediment to Non-Lethal Deer Control Methods

Hilltop Conservancy Treasurer Theresa Trapp pens Patch Letter to the Editor on deer control.

  Anti-culling activists insist there are economical and effective non-lethal alternatives to control local deer populations. A previous letter explored the high cost ($3,000+ per deer) and low effectiveness of immuno-contraceptives like GonaCon. Surgical sterilization (either tubal ligation or ovariectomy) would be less expensive (~$1,800 per deer) and far more effective – however, given New Jersey’s current regulations, neither method is operationally feasible. Under statute N.J.S.A. 23:4-42.4, a municipality wishing to conduct any kind of deer management program must first obtain a community-based deer management program permit from the DEP. Imbedded in this statute’s language is the requirement for prior written consent from …

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Local Business Owner Protests Proposed Quick Chek

Letter to the Editor from local business owner, Eric Bellomo, says a new convenience store and gas station at the intersection of Prospect and Mt. Pleasant Avenue would cause traffic and hurt other businesses.

  The owner of Club 4Sixty6 the disco, event center, steakhouse, and who knows what it will be next week, also owns the site of the Mt. Fuji steak house and is planning to bring the good people of West Orange a Quick Chek mega convenience store with many gas pumps covered by a huge illuminated canopy that will be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. Mt. Fuji, formally the Mushroom Farm, a West Orange landmark, is at the intersection of Prospect Avenue and Mt. Pleasant Avenue, where four lanes turn into a single lane from both directions, creating a bottleneck. There have been so many accidents at this intersection that the county made it a four way stop light. To add to the severity of this intersection, Mt. Pleasant …

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wohopeful

10:10 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013

Wawa on new road in parsipanny is not on a highway, open 24/7, located just off of 280 much like the proposed quick chek. And during the aftermath of super storm sandy they were open 24/7 with 12 pumps running.   more ›

Deer Contraceptives – It's All About the Math

Hilltop Conservancy Treasurer Theresa Trapp pens Letter to the Editor regarding county deer hunt.

  Essex County’s 2013 deer hunt has come to a close, once again removing many of this over-abundant species from our reservations (Hilltop – 61, South Mountain – 43). Contrary to naysayers, deer have not become extinct because of the program, and there are small signs that our nature preserves are beginning to recover from decades of browse damage. Contraceptives are sometimes proposed as an alternative to hunting. However, we need to acknowledge that non-lethal methods to control deer populations would involve significant investment of taxpayer dollars, particularly immuno-contraception (e.g., GonaCon). Each GonaCon inoculation costs more than $1,000 per dose (including locating, immobilizing, inoculating and collaring). In addition, each…

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Seton Hall Priest Expresses Surprise and Gratitude

Pope Benedict XVI's resignation inspired response by a Seton Hall faculty member who is also a priest

In response to Monday's announcement that Pope Benedict XVI would resign at the end of February, Msgr. John A. Radano, of Seton Hall University's School of Theology made a statement expressing both surprise and gratitude: Pope Benedict XVI’s Resignation: an initial reaction The news of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation came as a surprise. The first reaction to this announcement is to express a word of deep gratitude to the Holy Father for his eight years of service to the Catholic Church as Bishop of Rome.  He brought to that work his great expertise as a theologian, his deep concern for the pastoral needs of people, and a sense of ecumenical responsibility for seeking the unity of divided Christians, and building bridges of understanding …

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Children of a Worthless God

5:01 pm on Wednesday, April 10, 2013

@Marcia There is no need to. I am here to state opinions, not to argue with people I will never meet. @john As was said before, I am not trying to stir the hornets' nest. I am simply befuddled by the fact that a nation created to allow religious freedom is now using religion to sway the minds of others--more notably, the children.   more ›

Valentine's Day Recipes: Dinner and Dessert for Someone Special

Have a romantic dinner at home with this three-course feast.

Editor's Note: Tammy Lipps' gourmet but easy, decadent but delicious Valentine's dinner menu was a big hit last year, so we're pleased she accepted our invitation to share another "eat in," romantic, flavorful menu. It’s me with that decadent, romantic, comfort food dinner for two. What’s on the menu? ***How do you cut a strawberry into a heart shape? If you look closely at the berry BEFORE you do anything to it, you can already see that if you carefully remove the green top with a paring knife, you have to do very little to actually shape the strawberry into a heart.  At the top, cut into the side of the green top on two sides, into the center, as if you are “coring” the berry, leaving the two round mounds (as if it were a heart). You may…

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Does the Republican Party Need More Leaders Like Christie?

A column posted on 'The Daily Beast' touts officials like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as the solution to the GOP's problems.

Does the Republican Party need more leaders like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie? It does, according to an column posted on The DailyBeast.com Wednesday. Columnist John Avlon wrote in the article that Christie is the example other Republicans should be looking to amidst the GOP's "existential crisis." "The 2012 ass-kicking is forcing Republicans to confront their deepest demons—namely, that they cannot simply write off whole regions of the country and remain a viable national party," Avlon wrote. "They cannot afford to alienate the fastest-growing communities of color in the USA. They cannot win a war against modernity." Avlon noted that Christie has maintained largely favorable ratings from voters in a state that went to President Barack …

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Commuters Send Open Letter to NJ Transit

Schedule problems persist for station riders of Southwest Essex.

  An open letter to NJ Transit provided to Patch: Mr. James Weinstein NJ TRANSIT Corporation One Penn Plaza East Newark, NJ  07105   Re:  South Orange Train Station Village Schedule   Dear Mr. Weinstein:   As NJ Transit customers and community stakeholders, we are contacting you to collectively reiterate and emphasize the importance of restoring acceptable levels of service to the South Orange train station — specifically those that existed before the latest schedule change that took effect on October 14, 2012. Your latest accomplishment of being able to restore all commuter train service to New York to pre-Hurricane Sandy levels is to be commended. Despite the extensive damage caused by this storm to your rail cars and trains, you were …

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